Taken from IMDB: Hank Davis, foreman on a huge dam project, enlists the aid of his two flyer friends when a sinister figure known as The Black Ace leads his Mystery Squadron of masked pilots in an attempt to destroy the dam.

Mystery Squadron: Chapter 1 - The Black Ace
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 2 - The Fatal Warning
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 3 - The Black Ace Strikes
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 4 - Men of Steel
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 5 - The Death Swoop
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 6 - Doomed
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 7 - Enemy Signals
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 8 - The Canyon of Calamity
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 9 - The Secret of the Mine
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 10 - Clipped Wings
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 11 - The Beast at Bay
Mystery Squadron: Chapter 12 - The Ace of Aces


This movie is part of the collection: Short Format Films

Director: Colbert Clark
Producer: Nat Levine
Production Company: Mascot Pictures
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: Aviation, Action Adventure, serial

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: billbarstad - - January 27, 2010
Subject: Who Is The Black Ace?
The Black Ace with his Mystery Squadron of flyers has threatened a dam project nearing completion in New Mexico. If completed, the project would flood the Black Ace's secret gold mine. Ace flyers Fred Cromwell and Bill Cook are recruited by an old friend to find out who the Black Ace is and to stop him and his gang.

The allegiance of Fred and Bill is quickly confused by the Mystery Squadron and by Fred and Bill themselves for everyone associated with the dam project beginning as our heroes near the site. This finally clears up in episode 5. After that, the story focuses on smashing the Mystery Squadron and a frantic search among suspicious characters for the Black Ace. Most of the fun of this serial is in the deliberate effort to confuse the viewer.

There's a secret airbase hidden within a mountain, biplanes with attached flame throwers, and a tavern riddled with secret passages where guests with their own agendas toward the dam project and the gold mine are staying. Everyone, it seems, knows how to fly, and there's lots of it. Fun stuff.

The fistfights are more realistic than I've seen in most serials. Miniatures are used throughout and the effect is usually decent. Burning miniatures never look right. Cliffhangers are resolved believably.

I downloaded the MPEG4 files. The first episode is very contrasty. This improves in later episodes, but the print from which this was made shows it's age. Otherwise, the video and audio are ok.